California 

gional 

'ility 


LIBRARY 

UHNWStTY  Of 


"The  dawn  is  on  the  mountain  tops." 


LIBERTY 


AS  DELIVERED  BY 


The  Goddess 

AT  HER  UNVEILING 

In  the  Harbor  of  New  York 

OCTOBER  28,  1886 


BROOKLYN.  N.  Y. 

13ubltsl)fti  bu  the  Stitfjor,  12>4$ 

1886 


»J«    The  Trade  will  be  supplied  from  the  author 's  study  through 
the  American  News  Company,  New  York.   »J« 


COPYRIGHTED 

1886 
BY    MILLER    HAGEMAN. 


PRESS    OF 
THE  UNIONIST-GAZETTE  ASSOCIATION. 


OFFICE  OF 
AMERICAN  COMMITTEE 

OF  THE 

Statue  of  Liberty. 

NEW  YORK,  Nov  6,  1886. 
following  poem  was  prepared  for  the  Inaugu 
ral  Ceremony  of  the  Statue  of  Liberty,  wilh  the 
expectation  that  after  it  had  been  submitted  to  the 
Committee  it  would,  in  case  of  its  approval,  have  been  deliv 
ered  by  the  author  on  that  occasion. 

It  is  at  once  to  be  distinguished  from  all  other  poems  written 
for  the  occasion  by  the  fact  that  it  was  the  only  poem  out  of 
all  that  were  offered  which  came  before  the  Committee  for 
consideration.. 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  state  that  the  judgment  of  the 
Committee,  as  well  as  that  of  my  own,  regarding  the  literary 
merits  of  the  poem,  has  been  most  gratifyingly  confirmed  by 
three  of  America's  greatest  poets  in  their  letters  of  commenda 
tion  to  the  Committee. 

It  has  been  a  source  of  the   deepest   regret    that    in    view  of 


the  severe  inclemency  of  the  occasion,  the  extreme  length  of 
the  programme  in  spite  of  its  abbreviation  in  every  possible 
way,  coupled  with  the  length  of  the  poem  as  finally  completed, 
rendered  it  necessary  at  the  last  moment  to  omit  it  from  the 
programme  in  the  face  of  those  more  imperative  obligations 
that  crowded  the  ceremony. 

The  commendable  behaviour  of  the  poet  under  this  most 
trying  ordeal  has  won  for  him  so  warmly  the  respect  and  regard 
of  his  friends  that  I  beg  to  repeat  in  connection  with  this  pub 
lication  the  request  which  I  made  to  the  New  York  World, 
but  which  unfortunately  failed  to  reach  its  editor  in  time,  viz: 
that  this  poem  be  printed  in  connection  with  the  Inaugural 
Ceremony  of  the  Statue  of  Liberty,  in  the  Harbor  of  New 
York,  October  28,  1886,  to  the  end  that  its  historic  relation 
to  that  great  event  may  be  preserved  beyond  peradventure. 

RICHARD  BUTLER, 

Secretary  American   Committee. 


Preface. 

r  ,  u  TAKE  off  of  others  all  responsibility  for  any  of  the 
sentiments  of  this  poem  from  which  they  may  dissent 
and  put  it  solely  on  myself.  I  am  pure  in  my  purpose, 
in  endeavoring  to  interpret  the  idea  of  Liberty  in  its  genius 
and  integrity  for  all  lands  and  for  all  peoples,  to  bring  to 
it,  lest  it  be  belittled  in  the  eyes  of  men,  that  breadth  of 
thought  and  of  treatment  which  seeks  not  only  to  trace  it  in 
its  development  from  great,  inexorable  laws  of  natural  growth 
up  through  history  and  humanity  to  its  present  stage,  but  also 
to  perceive  the  prophetic  handwriting  which  its  great  Limner- 
Queen  shall  throw  on  the  Future  in  characters  of  leading  light. 
I  beg  to  thank  most  thoroughly  the  members  of  the  committee 
for  the  generous  subscriptions  which  have  enabled  me  to  put 
this  print  into  the  hands  of  my  fellow  men  for  the  future  judg 
ment  of  mankind,  and  in  thanking  them  to  thank  particularly 
the  Secretary  of  that  Committee,  with  whose  noble  efforts  in 
its  behalf  this  attempt  must  ever  stand  connected. 

MILLER   HAGEMAN. 

Brooklyn,  Nov.  8,  1886. 


s?  "r  r  /A\  T  r  $ 

HGiSKinSgSSSjfr* 

ss/-« 


• 


Qctitcatrti 

to 
Humanity. 


Liberty. 


HE  dawn  is  on  the  mountain  tops,  the  night 

is  flying  fast, 

The  light  the  world  hath  waited  for  so  long 
hath  come  at  last ; 


That    light  whose    flattery  never    fell    on    summit 

or  on  sea, 
That  beaconing  light,  my  countrymen,  the  light  of 

Liberty. 

Deep  in  the  caverns  of  the  dark,  doubled  in  gorgeous 
gloom, 

Bound  hand  and  foot,  lay  Liberty,  like  morn  in  mid 
night's  tomb. 

Bursting   her   fetters  she  came  forth  with  Freedom's 

scroll  unfurled. 
And  in  her  tireless  hand  the  torch  whose  light  shines 

round  the  world. 


Lone  Goddess  of  the  granite  height,  with  daybreak 

on  thy  brow, 
What    royal    greeting    waits   thy   grace  ?  whence, 

stranger,  earnest  thou  ? 

Art  thou  a  Persian  that  thy  hand  salutes  the  rising 

sun? 
A  grave  Chaldean  signalling  the  wise  stars  one  by 

one? 

Art  thou  a  bright  archangel  clad  in  the  black  robe  of 

night, 
Who,  through  thy  awful  frown  of  bronze,  dost  smile 

down  on  our  sight  ? 

Ask  of  the  land  beyond  the  sea  toward  which  thy 
face  is  set, 

The  land  that  saved  our  liberty,  the  land  of  La 
fayette. 

When,  for  the  creed  of  equal  rights,  for  conscience 
and  for  thought; 

When,  for  the  freedom  of  her  sons,  this  young  Repub 
lic  fought ; 


When,  through  the  angry  gloom  she  saw  the  con 
quering  foe  advance, 

A  light  streamed  out  upon  the  sky — the  oriflamb  of 
France. 

Our  drooping  banner  caught  that  gleam  when  hope 

was  almost  gone, 
While,    as  it    robbed   heaven   of    its   first    bright 

colors  of  the  dawn, 

Red   flamed   its   stripes   of    morning   light,    bright 

streaked  its  silver  bars, 
And,  breaking  through  the  azure  blue,  shone  out  the 

morning  stars. 

It  stirred,   it   thrilled,  it  curled,  it  clomb,  it  waved 

away  the  night, 
And  flung  o'er  Freedom's  continent  its  courier-bird 

of  light. 

Wafted  from  off  its  wings  that  light  across  the 
water  gleamed, 

Till,  with  twin  freedom  on  its  folds,  the  French  tri 
color  streamed. 


Behold  !   by  thy  great   sculptor's   hand,  up    to    the 

altar  led, 
Bless  thou  with  benediction  prayer  the  worlds  thy 

light  shall  wed. 

While  trails  the  red  arbutus  vine  across  the  winter 

snow, 
As  if  with  flowering  drops  of  blood  our   bleeding 

tracks  to  show  • 

While   rolls  the  sunset-crimsoned   Seine    into    the 

crimsoning  sea, 
France  and    Columbia  shall   stand   forever   one  in 

thee. 

Scarce    from  the   narrow  bounds   of    men,   scarce 

had'st  thou  turned  thy  face, 
To  steep  thy  chafing  soul  in  all  the   amplitude  of 

space ; 

Scarce  had'st  thou  breathed  the  boundless  air  and 

heard  the  north  wind  blow, 
And  felt   the  billows  break  against  thy  massy  base 

below ; 


Scarce  had  the  lightning  leaping  down  its  spirit  to 

thee  lent, 
Before  thy  arm  was  raised  to  show  what    all  that 

Freedom  meant ; 

Till,  scoffing  at  the  night  that  came  to  mock  thee 

in  the  dark, 
Thy  heart    with  one  electric  throb  shot  out  yon 

quivering  spark, 

The  currents  of  whose  truth  shall  thrill  till  all  the 

sons  of  earth 
Shall  feel  what  Liberty  hath  cost  and  what  its  light  is 

worth. 

Alive — with  all  thy  memories,  with  all  that  thou  dost 
mean, 

In  the  great  name  of  Liberty  we  hail  its  Limner- 
Queen  ! 

Steal  thou,   bright   maid,   the   morning's  blush,  the 

sunset's  ruddy  glow, 
To  greet  the  nations  as  they  come,  to  bless  them 

as  they  go. 


Thou  art  as  one  from  out  the  heavens,  whom  God 
himself  hath  sent, 

To  seal  forever  Slavery's  tomb  as  Freedom's  monu 
ment. 

Thou  art,  with  thorn-girt  crown,  that  marks  man's 

struggle  to  be  free, 
A   rapt    prophetic    seer   of    all    thy   glory   yet    to 

be. 

Amid   the    starry   march    of  worlds,    peering   with 

breathless  pause, 
On  that  grand  vision  beyond  sight  of  thy  unfinished 

cause, 

How  dark  thy  dawning  glory  soon  shall  seem  as 

ages  gone, 
While  from  far  suns  across  thy  face  that  wave  of 

light  rolls  on. 

For  well  thou  know'st,  though  man  hath  wrought, 

e're  thy  long  watch  was  set, 
Great    things    for    human    liberty,  man    hath   but 

little  yet. 


Whence  sprang  the  light  that  lit  thy  torch  ? 

-  And  as 
the  vision  broke, 

Pointing  the  Prophecy  of  Time,  the  silent  Goddess 
spoke : 

"  Shut    up   within    the   darkened  soul,  there  yearned 

since  Time  began 
"  The  light  of    that  immortal  truth — the  liberty   of 

man ; 

"  Through  the  long,  tortuous  labyrinth  of  ignorance 

and  doubt, 
"  The  slow  procession  of  the  Past  is  winding  dimly 

out. 

"  Borne  not  with  outward  signs  of  pomp  the  warder 

heard  or  saw, 
"  That  light  came  forth  the  latent  power  of  universal 

law ; 

"  The  light  that  in  an  opal  holds  the  rainbow  in  the 

rock, 
"  That  smiles  out  in  its  unborn  sleep,  a  cherub  in  the 

block, 


"  Works  in  the  crucible  of  earth  the  chemistry  of 
change, 

"  Rends  in  the  nodule  of  an  Alp  the  ruddy  moun 
tain-range, 

"  Pushes  with  gentle  violence  through  seed  and  leaf 

and  spray, 
"  Drives  on  with  steady  doom  of  growth  and  blossoms 

into  day, 

"  Opens  at  morn  with  noiseless  keys  the  ivory  gates 
of  night, 

"  Sets  its  red  sandal  on  the  sky,  the  cloud,  the  snow 
capped  height, 

"  Steps  from  the  stained  crag  to  the  palm,  the  shrub, 

the  daisy's  cup, 
"  Stirs  the  still  couch  with  unseen  hand  and  lights 

Creation  up ; 

"  The  light  that  in   the  march  of  mind,  from  age  to 

age,  hath  wrought 
"  The  bright  discoveries  that   have   flashed  about  the 

forge  of  thought ; 


16 


"  That  hews  the  mountains,  climbs  the  heavens,  leaps 
oceans  at  a  bound, 

"  Unveils  the  future,  limns  the  dead,  and  speaks  with 
out  a  sound  ; 

"  The  light  that  quickens  in  the   soul,   that  fires  the 

eager  face, 
"  Inspires  the  hope,  kindles  the  truth  that  thrills  from 

race  to  race ; 

"  The  light  that  warms  the  Golden  Page,  that  tells  men 

they  are  free, 
•'  Gleamed   forth    on    the  historic   steps    of  human 

liberty. 

"  It  twinkled   out,  a  lonely  Star,  upon  the  heavens  of 

old, 
"  By  whose   pale   ray  of  prophecy  that  light  was  first 

foretold. 

"  It  glimmered  on  the  Orient  upon  a  race  of  slaves, 
"  It  led  them  forth  as    conquerors   beyond  the  clos 
ing  waves. 


"  It    glinted    on    Phoenicia   and    at   its    sail-caught 

smiles 
"  The  shuttles  of  her  ships  knit  all  her  sandal-scented 

isles. 

"  It  shed  a  broken  gleam  on  Greece,  and,  with  its  glory 
wreathed, 

"  She  shone  with  mighty  words  that  burned  and  mar 
ble  gods  that  breathed. 

"  It  cast  a  beam  on  Italy  and,  as  its  scroll  un 
furled, 

"  A  power  came  forth  upon  the  earth  that  governed 
all  the  world. 

"  It  threw  a  ray  on  Runnymede  from  pennon,  spear 
and  tent, 

"  And,  born  of  Magna  Charta,  bred  the  Briton's  Parlia 
ment. 

"  It  shot  a  glance   on   Germany   across  the  Zuyder- 

Zee, 
"  Where    stamped  with  brave  Reformer's  blood  men 

printed —  Liberty. 


18 


"  It   Hasheil    ti[)on    the   knights  of  Spain  and,    on  the 

trampled  corse, 
"  The  man   on   foot,  with   musket   raised,  challenged 

the  man  on  horse. 

"  It  quickened  Russia's  frozen  heart  that  long  refused  to 

flow, 
•'  Till  with   emancipated  serfs  it  beat  from  out  the 

snow. 

"It   dawned   upon    Columbia   and    first    to    freemen 

gave 
'-  A    liberty    her    Martyr-Chief  proclaimed    to    every 

slave. 

"It  fired  the  peasantry  of  France  weighed  down  with 

heavy  woes, 
"  And  round    a    feudal    monarchy    a    free    republic 

rose. 

"  In  every  country  of  the   earth  since  years  were  in 

their  youth, 
"The  greatest  friend  to  liberty  hath  been  the  light  of 

truth. 


"  In  every  nation  of  the  past  whose  glory  hath  de 
creased, 

"  The  greatest  foe  to  liberty,  the  craft  of  king  and 
priest. 

"  Bred    up   by  grand,    heroic   deeds,    by    agonizing 

throes, 
"  By  suffering  whose  lines  have  wrought  this  resolute 

repose : 

"  Forth  with  majestic  stride  from  out  the  dusky  files 

of  men, 
"  On    whose   great   like   man  ne'er  hath  looked  and 

ne'er  shall  look  again : 

"  Behold  !  great    Freedom's  first-born    child,  historic 

heir  of  Time, 
"  Whose  crown  hath  caught  those  scattered  rays,  of 

every  race  and  clime. 

"  Behold !  my  first  bright  trophy  won — the  Bastile's 
flaming  key, 

"  That  yet  shall  open  every  door  to  bolted  lib 
erty. 


"  Freedom,  but   never  for  the  heart  within  this  bosom 

warm, 
"  The  anarch  brood,  that  darkly  dash   against   it   in 

the  storm; 

"  Blind  sea  birds,  saddening  stupidly  the  island  with 

their  dead, 
•'  And    claiming    liberty   for    that     whence    all    its 

charms  were  fled. 

"  Freedom,    but   not    by   demagogues,    bred    up   in 

courts  of  fools ; 
"  Freedom  for  men  to  use  their  powers  by  right  of 

Nature's  rules ; 

"  The  laws  that  hold  the  world  in  leash,  the  laws  that 

set  men  free, 
"  For,  save  through  knowledge  of  her  laws,  there  is  no 

liberty. 

"  Freedom  for  every  living  man  that  stands  upon  the 

earth, 
"  For  all  that  be  he  black  or  white  belongs  to  him  by 

birth. 


"  Freedom  for  every  man  to  come  and  every  man  to 

go, 

"  Freedom  for  every  man  to   reap  whatever  he   can 
sow. 

"  Freedom  from  party  prejudice,  from  threat  of  craft 

or  guild, 
"  Freedom   for  every  man   to  vote,  for  every  man  to 

build  ; 

"  For  every  man  to  own  himself,  to  act  his  manhood 

out. 
"  Free   to  believe   or  disbelieve  and  doubly  free  to 

doubt. 

"  Freedom  from  aping    forms  of    cant,  that    snivels 

drawls  and  brags, 
"  From    fashions    that    adorn    the  dust,  but  leave  the 

soul  in  rags ; 

"  From  sounding  titles  strung  on  names,  as  coins  upon 

a  clown : 
"  Put  up  the  eagle  at  the  peak  but  take  the  peacock 

down. 


"  Freedom  from  all  alliances  between  the  Church  and 

State. 
"  That  whelm  the  body  politic  with  sacerdotal  weight. 

"  Freedom  from  old  paternal  power,  drivel  of  dotard 

lands, 
"  Freedom — for  power  is  only  safe  in  all  the  people's 

hands. 

"  Freedom   for   scholar   and   for   school,    for   pulpit, 

press  and  speech, 
"  For  creeds  that  once  have  ceased  to  learn  have  also 

ceased  to  teach. 

"  Freedom  from  ignorance  whose  god  is  superstition's 

ghost, 
"  From  dogmas  that  have  made  the  cross  a  martyr's 

pillory-post. 

"  Freedom  for  man  to  think  before  tradition's  musty 

shelf, 
"  Once  for  the  text,  twice  for  the  gloss,  and  three 

times  for  himself. 


"  Freedom   in   all   its  shining   forms,  for  science  and 

for  art, 
"  Freedom   for  all   the   industries   that    multiply    the 

mart. 

"  Freedom  from  those  restrictive  laws  whose  revenues 

have  ceased, — 
"  Freedom — for  the  best  government    is    that  which 

governs  least. 

"There  is  a  law  in  things  themselves  that  regulates 

their  life, 
"That  is  not  quickened  or  delayed  by  statute  or  by 

strife. 

"The  greater  sphere  a  law  doth  fill  the  greater  its  con 
trol; 
"  A  little  liberty  is  not  so  safe  as  is  the  whole. 

"  Where    freedom    reigns  there   virtue   thrive?,  there 

truth  and  justice  dwell  ; 
"  Where    freedom    sinks   there    wealth    decays,  there 

gone  is  glory's  spell. 


"  'Tis  from  the  bottom  to  the  top  the  social  fabric 

dies; 
"  Go   to  the  ground,  there,  only  there,  the  hope  of 

nations  lies. 

"  O    many-fountained    mother   earth  !    behold,  when 

morn  hath  pressed 
"  In  iris-winking  drops  of  dew  the    milk-beads  from 

thy  breast ; 

"  Behold  the  fainting  myriads    on    that    full    bosom 

fall, 
"  While  lapt   in   sated   luxury    a    few   men    own    it 

all. 

"  Curs' d    be    the    law    that   grants   away   horizoned 

leagues  of  land, 
"  That  reads  God's  title  to   the  globe,  grasped  by  a 

dead  man's  hand  ; 

"  That  leaves  a  scion  of  the  soil  in  poverty  to  go 
"  Without  a  home  above  the  ground,  without  a  grave 
below. 


25 


"  Curs'd  be  that  blinding  octopus  whose  phosphores 
cent  charms 

"  Clutch  all  the  shuddering  crafts  that  come  within  its 
spiderous  arms ; 

"  That  stares  out  with  its  deep  red  eyes  across  the 

rolling  sea, 
"  And  cries,   '  Come  up,  and  be  ye   searched '   and 

calls  that — liberty. 
"  Cursed  be  those  vast  complexities  that  smuggle  fraud 

and  pelf; 
"  Take — take  the  simple  way  and  go  straight  to  the 

thing  itself. 

"  There's  not  a  handicraft  that  plumes  the  marts  of 

foreign  powers, 
"  Worth  half  so  much  to  us  as  theirs  as  'tis  to  us  as 

ours: 

"  There's  not  a  thing  that  man  can  give,  a  thing  that 

man  can  take, 
"  But  leaves  him  for  its  interchange  more  than  its 

want  can  make. 


26 


"  We  want    the    things   that  others  have,   we  want 

their  very  best ; 
"  Break  off  the  chains  between  all  lands,  nor  leave  the 

lack  confessed. 

"  Take  off  of  things  the  heavy  toll,  the  tariff  and  the 

tax, 
"Those   two   great   burdens   that    their   dupes   hug 

blindly  to  their  backs  ; 

"  Take  olf  of  men  the  angry  wrongs  that  cry  against 

the  land, 
"  Take — take  your  thumb  off  of  their  throat  and  take 

them  by  the  hand. 

"  Honor     the     proletariat,     but    spurn    the     guilty 

wretch, 
"  Who  corners  Nature's  gifts  for  what  the  pinch  of  want 

will  fetch. 

"  Cursed   be  the   law,  aye   doubly  cursed,   that  dun 
geons  men  for  debt, 
"  That  huddles  vice  behind  its  bars  and  frees  it  viler 

yet; 


27 


"  That  heaps  a  treasury  for  spoils,  that  seats  without 

rebuke, 
"  On   thrones    of  corporative    power,   a    coronetted 

duke ; 

"  The  law,  high  crime  at  law  itself,  that  says,    '  thou 

shalt  not  kill, ' 
"  Yet  licenses  two  murderers,  the    brothel  and  the 

still ; 

"  Feels  in  its  heart  the  curse  of  Cain  branded  upon 

its  face, 
"  That  deep,   degenerative  taint  that   rots   into  the 

race; 

"  Reels,    staggers,  falls,  arrests  itself,  and  handcuffed 

shouts,  '  I'm  free,'— 
"  The  dignitary  of  the  ditch — the  slave  of  liberty. 

"  Before  the  law  was  written  down  with  parchment  or 

with  pen, 
"  Before  the  law  made   citizens,   the  moral  law  made 

men. 


28 


"  Law  stands  for  human  rights,  but  when  it  fails  those 

rights  to  give, 
"  Then  let  law  die,  my  brothers,  but  let  human  beings 

live. 

"Justice!  O    Liberty,  to   whom    the    people's  rights 

belong, 
"Justice!  lest  be  in  thine  own    light  thou  stand  a 

brazen  wrong : 

"  Well  have  ye  made  great  Themis  blind,  where  Jus 
tice  stands  appraised, 

"  Lest  she  have  horror  of  her  scales  if  once  those  eyes 
were  raised. 

"  Light  for  the  women  of  the  world  that  mould  the 
mothered  age, 

"  Light  for  the  eyes  pressed  down  to  death  with  pen 
ny-weighted' wage  ; 

"  Light  for  the  thrones  till  kings  grow  blind,   light  till 

the  sceptre  falls, 
"  Light   for   the    serfs,    the   hinds,    the  slaves,    light 

through  the  dungeon  walls  ; 


29 


"  Light  for  the  lock-step  in  the  mines,  the  toilers  on 

the  sea, 
"  Light   for   the    poor   and    the   oppressed,  light  for 

humanity  ; 

"  Light — never  till  this  lancing  light  lays  bare  each 

human  woe, 
"  Sheathed  be  its  bloodless  sword  save  in  the  bowels 

of  the  foe  ; 

"  Light— and  as  oft,  O  Liberty,  the  world  shall  lift  its 

eye, 
"  To   watch,    through   coming    centuries,    that    light 

against  the  sky; 

"  Let  not   men   see   its   glory   fade    upon    a   ruined 

land, 
"  On  cities  sacked  by  anarchy  or  swept  by  blackened 

brand ; 

"  On  broken  columns,  where  the  owl  mopes  by  the 
mouldering  walls, 

"  On  stony  squalors,  o'er  whose  heaps  the  moony  mid 
night  falls  ; 


"  On  streets  that  mock  the  traveller's  step,  on  squares 

whose  roar  is  dumb, 
u  On  hulls  that  leave  no  trails  of  smoke,  no  harbored 

clink  or  hum. 

"  O  let  men  rather  see  that  light  o'er  all   this  land  of 

thine, 
"  On    flashing  forms  of  industry,  with  rays  reflected 

shine ; 

"  On  glowing  forge,  on  flying  wheel,  on  snort  of  iron 

steed; 
"  On  ships  that   pant  trom   port  to  port  with  flaming 

manes  of  speed  ; 

"  On   human   homes  of  happiness,  of  virtue  and  ot 

health, 
"  On  hills  that  break  with  billowy  bloom  in  golden 

waves  of  wealth  ; 

"  On  churches,  with  no  sect  below,  no  sect  beyond 

the  sky, 
"  On  love,  the  Maker's  only  creed,  divinest  liberty  ; 


"  On  princely  charities  that  walk  through  the  white 
wards  of  pain, 

"  On  broad  humanities  that  bond  the  common  peo 
ple's  reign ; 

"  On  states  that  know  no  North,  no  South,  whatever 

fate  befall, 
"  One  truth,  one  law,  one  heart,  one  flag,  one  Union 

for  us  all. 

"  While  Truth,  in  silence  from  these  lips,  speaks  as  if 

thunder  spoke, 
"  Looks  the  whole  world  full  in  the  face,  and  strikes 

with  lightning  stroke, 

"  Ye  need  no  other  arsenal,  no  navies  and  no 
forts, 

"  No  standing  armies  and  no  guns  to  guard  your  coun 
try's  ports. 

"Here    stack   your   weapons,   sheathe  your  swords; 

within  the  sentried  vault, 
"  Behold  !  I  stand  'mid  clashing  hosts,  to  call  eternal 

halt! 


"  Defiant  as  the  stormless  truth  that  guards  a  nation's 
trust : 

"  Peace  is  the  virtue  of  a  land,  and  War  a  palsy 
ing  lust. 

"  Ye  tyrants  scoff,  ye  war-clouds  hurl  your  bright- 
veined  bolts  about, 

"  Lit  at  the  altar  of  its  God  that  light  shall  not  go 
out. 

"  Go,  drape   the   spangles   of  the  night,  go,  veil  the 

rising  dawn, 
"  Go,  quench   the   sun,  the   moon,  the  stars,  go,  bid 

them  all  be  gone  ; 

"  Go,    memory,    forget   the    dead, — still   round    this 

lighted  shrine, 
"  On  Heaven's  sublime  Olympus  set,  Oblivion's  gods 

shall  shine. 

"  Great  Heaven's  Olympus,  as  of  old,  spread  with 

fresh  gods  again, 
"  Gods,  not  of  marble  or  of  gold,  gods  of  immortal 

men : 


33 


"  What  gods  ? — the  Lords'  anointed,  clothed  with  a 

divine  decree? 
"  No! — for   at   every   step   they  blocked  the  way  to 

liberty. 

"  What  gods? — the  scholars  in  their  stalls,  dishonestly 

devout  ? 
"  No — for  they  scoured  the  candlestick,  but  put  the 

candle  out. 

"  Whence  come  thy  gods,  O  Liberty,  from  cloisters, 

senates,  thrones  ? 
"  Answer,  ye  racks,  ye  wheels,  ye  stakes,  ye  chains,  ye 

dungeoned  groans. 

"  Who  are  these  gods  ?  popes  ?  judges  ?  kings  ?  enshrined 

with  storied  bust  ? 
"  Answer,    ye   waters   and   ye   winds    that   waft  the 

martyrs'  dust : 

"  Answer,  ye  heroes  from    the  flame,  ye  wild  beasts 

,  from  the  pit, 

"  Be  they  thy  gods,  O  Liberty,  by  whom  that  torch  was 
lit. 


34 


"  Come  from  your  faggots  and  your  fires,  come  from 

your  hunted  caves, 
"  Come  from  your  ratchets  and  your  racks,  come  from 

your  nameless  graves  ; 

"  Come  curs'd,  come  bless'd ;  the  martyrs'  smile  con 
quers  the  monarch's  frown, 

•'  The  stake  becomes  the  sceptre  and  the  gallows-cap 
the  crown." 

So  spake  the  Goddess  and  from  that  grand  vision 

beyond  sight, 
Came    martyr-voices    crying     out    of    everlasting 

light : 

"  Smite,  toying  heaven's  bright  thunderbolts  above 
thy  scathless  head, 

"  Smite  war,  smite  wrong,  smite  tyranny,  smite  dragon- 
darkness  dead ; 

"  Watch  with  eternal  vigilance,  let  no  man  take  thy 

crown  ; 
"  Upon  thy  deep,  colossal    calm    the    centuries  look 

down. 


35 


"  Watch — such  a  charge  as  thou  dost  keep,  by  all  thy 

sons  on  high, 
"  Brooks  not  one  tremor  of  the  hand,  one  closing  of 

the  eye. 

"  By  that  immortal  robe  of  thine  thy  form  so  warmly 

wears, 
"  Welded  together  with  our  blood  and  woven  from 

our  prayers ; 

"  By  every  thread,  by  every  fold,  by  every  fila 
ment, 

"  By  every  fibre  of  thy  frame  through  which  our  life 
is  sent ; 

"  By  all  who  suffered  for   thy  sake,  by  all  who  died 

for  thee, 
"  Hold    up  that  hand   for  Liberty  till  all  the  world  is 

free. 

"  And  when  at  length  thy  lonely  task  of  Prophecy  is 

done, 
"  Come  up,  thou   daughter  of  the  dawn,  and  stand 

within  the  sun." 


Slowly  the  dragon  crouched  away   as  snatched  from 

clutch  and  jaw, 
Loomed  that  shrived  wonder  that  the  Seer  on  lonely 

island  saw. 

Lo !  on  transfiguration's  height,  translated  from  the 

earth, 
A  queen  cried  out  before  the  throne  in  throes  of 

royal  birth  : 

"  Call  trumpeters,"  and  lo,  they  thrilled  each  strong 

triumphant  pang; 
"  Call  seraphims,"  and  lo,  with  song  the  vast  rotunda 

rang; 

"  Call  worlds,"  and  lo,  with  rushing  pace  through  archi 
trave  and  arch, 

Came   rolling    up   from   cycling   orbs   the  music  of 
their  march ; 

While,  as  the  wheeling  planet  swung  through  all  the 

heavens  of  space, 
As    He  who   was   the  light  of  men  smiled  in  his 

mother's  face  : 


37 


Trampling  the  moon  beneath  her  feet,  the  pale  stars 

one  by  one, 
Behold  !  in  heaven,  a  woman  stood  all  clothed  on 

with  the  sun : 

Still,    with     apocalyptic     hand     uplifted     to    the 

throne  ; 
Liberty — signalling — lost  in  light — no  light  but  God 

alone ! 


* 


from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


A     000  667876 


•  I 


